Angst and Amadeus!

Amadeus!  The hit movie based on the romaticized life of W. A. Mozart is an example of A Composer in Literature. That was the theme of the first of a two-part conference that Associate Professor Rosina Neginsky co-organized, which the University of Paris-Sorbonne hosted in 2016. Conference Poster (PDF) There Dr. Neginsky discussed the play by Peter Shaffer, “Amadeus,” and the small tragedy by Alexander Pushkin, “Mozart and Salieri.”

Rosina Neginsky

The second part of the conference, A Man of Letters in Music, takes place this week (Feb 22-24, 2018 )in Florence, Italy.  Dr. Neginsky will be presenting her analysis of the correspondence between Richard Strauss and Romain Rolland about the opera Salome.

One of Rosina’s research interests is the figure of Salome in art, literature, and music.  In 2013 she published a book Salome: Image of a Woman Who Never Was. In addition, she is an author of a book on a Russian woman journalist and translator, Zinaida Vengerova: In Search of Beauty, who was responsible for propagating the European Symbolist Movement in Russia. Rosina also works as an editor. Since 2010, she edited three books on Symbolist Movement, the latest of which is Mental Illnesses in Symbolism.

She has established a research center at UIS for Art, Literature, Music in Symbolism and Decadence and is preparing to organize another conference, this time in Illinois, with student participation. She is also interested in working with a student on an editing project.

Dr. Neginsky is also a poet. She does poetry readings locally, nationally, and internationally. She has published a number of collections of her poetry.  Her latest book of poetry is In the Garden of Luxembourg (2015), which was published in English, French, and Russian (2015).

In the Garden of Luxembourg

Another way that Rosina impacts the community is by organizing and curating a number of art exhibits at UIS and at the Springfield Art Association. The latest exhibition took place at SAA in September 2017 when she exhibited works by an Ukrainian Chicago based artist Lyubov Momot.

Rosina earned her PhD for U of I Urbana-Champaign in Comparative Literature. She teaches interdisciplinary subject matters such as Literature and Visual Arts. She is a member of the Art, Music and Theater Department. Her excellent research was recognized by the University of Illinois in 2008 with the University Scholar Award.

Dr. Neginsky’s current area of research is Angst in European Symbolism. She is writing a new book on Mikhail Vrubel in Western European Context. Rosina will be presenting her latest research and signing her most recent book: Mental Illnesses in Symbolism (2017) on April 24, 2018, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Public Affairs Center, Conference Room F.

Mental Illness in Symbolism

Professor Karen Swan and Social Presence

Social media surrounds us, but many feel like these online tools don’t really connect us.  So how can faculty connect with their students through online media?  Dr. Karen Swan kicked off the Spring Faculty Scholarship Series on February 13th with a presentation based on her most recent book, “Social Presence in Online Learning.” She will also be a facilitator at the Community for Innovative and Engaged Learning Symposium on February 15th.

Karen Swan

Dr. Swan is the James J. Stukel Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership.  Swan received the Sloan Consortium for Asynchronous Learning Networks Award for “Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an Individual” in 2006 and she is one of the most highly cited faculty at UIS.

articles, chapters, books, reviews, conferences

Students in her online classes are working towards becoming school principles, among other leadership roles. To improve student learning outcomes, Dr. Swan designs her courses to create social presence.  For example, she scaffolds multiple varied discussion boards to build cohesion. She also uses the journal tool to communicate one-on-one with her students. It doesn’t matter so much what the media is, but what the instructor does to build connections, since learning is social.

You can read more about Dr. Swan’s research in her book.

social presence in online learning